DRAFT EDGAR XFDL Technical Specification (Version 4)

In support of EDGAR Release 9.5, updates were made to the EDGAR XFDL Technical Specification. This version of the document is labeled Version 4. The revised specification is currently available via the links that appear at the end of this document.

The EDGAR XFDL Technical Specification (Version 4) provides guidance to interested filers for creating XFDL filings without the use of EDGARLink. The expectation is that software developers, working on behalf of filers, will construct software that will generate an XFDL filing that can be successfully parsed by the EDGAR Receipt Server.

This release introduces updates to submission Templates 2, and 3, and EDGARLink software that are based on recent SEC changes and rulemaking activities. These updates are being made primarily to support the amended rules and forms being considered for adoption by the Commission to address 1) revisions to the accelerated filer definition for filing periodic reports for Exchange Act reporting companies; 2) new form types for the termination of registration of a class of equity securities by a foreign private issuer (15F-12B, 15F-12B/A, 15F-12G, 15F-12G/A, 15F-15D, 15F-15D/A); and 3) a “Duty to File Reports Remains” indicator in EDGARLink to capture whether an Exchange Act reporting company’s filing obligations have terminated. Please review the EDGAR Filer Manual (Volumes I, II) for information regarding these changes before you begin.

A summary of the changes are as follows (please refer to the appendices that appear in the XFDL specification for details):

Template 2

In order to be consistent with the template, a minor change was made to Appendix IV for the following submission types:

40-17F1, 40-17F1/A, 40-17F2, 40-17F2/A, N-27D-1, N-27D-1/A

Template 3

The following additional submission types are allowed in the SubTable_submissionType_ field:

15F-12B, 15F-12B/A, 15F-12G, 15F-12G/A, 15F-15D, 15F-15D/A

In order to specify whether a filer’s duty to file reports under section 13(a) or 15(d) remains, the new SubFiler_dutyToFileReportsRemains_ and SubCoreg_dutyToFileReportsRemains_ fields are allowed for the following submission types:

In order to specify a filer’s accelerated filer status, the new SubFiler_acceleratedFilerStatus_ field is allowed for the following submission types:

10-K, 10-K/A, 10-KT, 10-KT/A, 20-F, 20-F/A

There are two components to the specification that can be downloaded separately. The first is the specification itself, which contains details about the release, general instructions on the templates, general rules about the XFDL file being created, and specific rules on the XFDL nodes containing data elements. It also includes information regarding the content of the appendices and some sample documents. The second document gives specific requirements for each form type.

You may download the EDGAR XFDL Technical Specification by clicking the following links: